


No Half-Measures

by honestgrins



Series: To Rely on the Kindness of Strangers [117]
Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Angst, Attempted Breakup, Canon-ish, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:35:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22310410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/honestgrins/pseuds/honestgrins
Summary: Anonymous asked: I am utterly in love with your drabbles because you have a gift of giving us snippets of KC stories and you really know how to capture their chemistry and their over the top dynamic. Your characterization of klaus and Caroline is so on point . Can I request a Drabble with Klaus thinking about breaking up with Caroline because he thinks she doesn’t love him and Caroline admitting that she wants him forever? Please? Thank you so so much
Relationships: Caroline Forbes/Klaus Mikaelson
Series: To Rely on the Kindness of Strangers [117]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/378628
Comments: 4
Kudos: 83





	No Half-Measures

“I wouldn’t want to intrude on your plans, sweetheart.”

Caroline stared at him, his absent tone belying what she’d come to recognize as intense insecurity. Sometimes, she couldn’t believe little Caroline Forbes had grown up to become a mostly self-assured vampire, only to fall inconveniently in love with a thousand-year-old scaredy-cat. A werewolf pack working with witches to kidnap her on the way to incapacitating him? No sweat, killed the ringleader and banished the rest without a problem.

Inviting him to tag along on Enzo’s birthday cruise? Uh oh. “It’s not intruding. I want you to come, or else I wouldn’t have asked.”

Klaus wouldn’t look up from his sketchbook, which meant he was planning on being stubborn. “Your friend Enzo isn’t exactly my biggest fan.”

“No, but he is mine,” she answered defiantly. “And he knows we’re a package deal. If he’s bringing his significant others, then I’m going to - if you want.”

There. His breath hitched ever so slightly, a tell that left her stomach plummeting. “We _are_ a package deal, aren’t we?”

“Of course.” Oh, but she hated the way she parsed his words, his voice. Every inflection meant something else, and suddenly she was back in high school wondering if Matt really cared about her.

But this was _Klaus_. Her last love, the megalomaniac hybrid that worked like hell for her to take him seriously. She hadn’t been so unsure of Klaus since he’d proven himself incapable of killing her; the sudden disconnect felt worse than imminent death, however. “What’s wrong?”

Finally, he glanced up and met her eyes, his own widening at her mild panic. “Not a thing. I just don’t want you counting on me for a trip six months away. New Orleans changes by the day, you know.”

Her face fell slack. “You’re breaking up with me, aren’t you?”

“How on earth did you get that?” he asked, a note too bright to be a simple dismissal. Now, he sounded scared. “I love you.”

“I know.” That wasn’t what she was doubting. “You’re also sowing the seeds for a breakup. Eventually. Why?”

“Sweetheart-”

“Why?”

Klaus sighed with his whole body, looking so pained that flaying his heart open would hurt less. His hand clenched around his sketchbook like it would stop him from reaching for her. God, that hurt. “I want you to be happy, even if that’s not with me. You could find someone that would fit in with your friends, who they’d be happy to see more than once or twice in a blue moon.”

Tears burned, but she was too angry to let them fall. “Where the hell is this coming from?” When he opened his mouth to answer - to spin a pretty lie - she viciously cut him off. “No, you’ve clearly been thinking about this for a while. What makes you think this is what I want?”

His face was stony. “I think it’s what you need.”

No, no, she recognized that expression, the one with haunted eyes and utter desolation. That’s a Mikaelson-induced guilt trip. “Rebekah or Kol?” Her voice was all but seething. “I know your track record for self-loathing is a mile long, but they’re behind this little guilt trip, aren’t they?”

“Love-”

“Oh my god,” she groaned, wishing she knew how to free him from a millennium of sharing and inflicting trauma. “Listen to me, Klaus, and listen good. I love you, and you’re mine. I know human terms aren’t your favorite, but for better and worse and all that. You understand?”

He was shaking his head, and she was the one to finally reach for him, her hands landing on either side of his face. “I love you,” she implored, slow and deliberate. “Whatever the cost - which doesn’t exist anyway - you’re worth it to me.”

Understanding lit like a glowing ember, slowly building behind his eyes until awe filled his expression. “You really mean that.”

Caroline fought the urge to roll her eyes, but just barely. “Of course I do. And I’ll tell you every time you try to weasel out of plans with my friends,” she warned, kissing his cheek. “Got it?”

Leaning into her touch, Klaus looked almost reverent. “I love you, too.”


End file.
